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Madonna: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff ***

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 25 August 2008

HOURS BEFORE Madonna launched her Sticky & Sweet world tour in Cardiff on Saturday, the phenomenal pulling power of history's biggest ever female pop star ...

Cliff Richard: Cliffstory

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, September 2008

CLIFF RICHARD has been the most constant companion of British pop fans since 1958, but he remains one of the most enigmatic and controversial figures ...

Metallica: Some Kind Of Monsters

Report and Interview by William Shaw, Q, September 2008

In the old days, Metallica were hard-drinking, groupie-shagging rock pigs. Today, they're all about pre-gig yoga sessions, surfing and being good dads. On the merch ...

Buddy Holly: Down the Line: Buddy Holly

Retrospective by Mark Kemp, Texas Music, January 2009

WHEN THE FIRST gentle notes ring from Buddy Holly's acoustic guitar on his cover of Mickey & Sylvia's 'Dearest', you could swear it was recorded ...

Can, Cluster, Faust, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Harmonia: Krautrock

Retrospective and Interview by John Doran, Record Collector, January 2009

In the early 1970s a revolution in sound occurred that was as influential in its own way as the birth of rock'n'roll or reggae. John ...

Lily Allen: Talented, Troubled and Wallowing in Her Father's Footsteps

Profile by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, 25 January 2009

WHATEVER AMOROUS tale they really told, the ostensibly loved-up paparazzi shots that flashed around the world in early January telegraphed the fact that Lily Allen ...

The View: Grown-Up and Mystical: The View

Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 30 January 2009

THE HOUSE-TO-HOUSE search of his old haunts in Dundee has been completed, and here comes The View's singer Kyle Falconer. ...

Buddy Holly: The Angel with the Devil's Music: Buddy Holly

Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 30 January 2009

Fifty years ago, Buddy Holly's life was sadly cut short. Richard Williams salutes the clean-cut 22-year-old who came to Britain and showed a whole generation ...

Buddy Holly: Why Buddy Holly will never fade away

Retrospective by Philip Norman, Daily Telegraph, 30 January 2009

ON A BASIS OF simply counting heads, rock music surpasses even film as the 20th century's most influential art form. By that reckoning, there is ...

How The Fanzine Refused To Die

Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 2 February 2009

Blogs are the cheapest, fastest and easiest way to get your music writing out there — but that hasn't stopped a new generation of writers picking ...

Hudson Mohawke: New band of the week: Hudson Mohawke

Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 2 February 2009

This 22-year-old Warp signing sounds like Crystal Castles holding a disco inside an early '80s Atari computer console with the entire crew of George Clinton's ...

Big Black, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth: Sonic Youth And the Blast First Axis

Essay by David Stubbs, The Wire, 12 February 2009

AS FAR AS many people were concerned in the 80s, in the UK in particular, rock was a discredited medium. ...

Candi Staton: How tragedy makes the diva

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 13 February 2009

WHAT IS CANDI Staton doing on Valentine's Day? With hindsight, it seems an indiscreet question to ask a single 65-year-old woman. ...

Mamas and The Papas, The, John Phillips: King of the Wild Frontier: Papa John Phillips

Retrospective and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 15 March 2009

IN AUGUST 1977, John Phillips was supposed to be recording the album with Keith Richards that would mark his comeback. ...

Satin Peaches, The: The Satin Peaches: Fuzzy and sweet

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 25 March 2009

"THESE DETROIT-BRED cuties are so goddamned good … Think '60s Brit-pop with bluesy piano strut and raggedy garage-rock thrown in for good measure. [The song] ...

Depeche Mode:

Review and Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 17 April 2009

How the trio escaped their demons to make a great album ...

Morrissey: Unhappy Birthday, Morrissey

Retrospective by Len Brown, Rock's Backpages, 22 May 2009

N.B. This is the full, unedited version of a piece published in The Guardian on 22 May 2009 ...

Housemartins, The: The Housemartins: London 0 Hull 4

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, 24 May 2009

LIKE THE all-conquering Madness during the first half of the '80s, the Housemartins pulled off the admirable trick of shoehorning well-considered social comment into the ...

Neil Sedaka Looks Back

Profile and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, June 2009

IT'S OBVIOUS to anyone with even a smattering of pop music suss that without Neil Sedaka there would be no 'Breaking Up Is Hard To ...

Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt: Steve Van Zandt: "We said we'd walk together, come what may…"

Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, June 2009

Forty years of friendship: Miami Steve Van Zandt on Bruce Springsteen ...